Firewire vs USB 2.0..Is it worth the extra

[MWISimmer]

I will shortly be buying an external HDD, a WD MyBook 250gb. They come in 2 flavours, standard and "Pro" with the only difference, as far as I can tell, is the Pro has firewire connectivity as well as USB. The price difference is about half again,

[Nick N]

[quote]I will shortly be buying an external HDD, a WD MyBook 250gb. They come in 2 flavours, standard and "Pro" with the only difference, as far as I can tell, is the Pro has firewire connectivity as well as USB. The price difference is about half again,

[MWISimmer]

Thanks Nick, and welcome back

[Nick N]

Thanks


Its a matter of deciding if you may need the drive later for speed. I think USB 2.0 will be fine for your current intended use and the components.


Keep in mind, CD's and DVD'd have a shelf life and are not reliable for long term storage of very important data. they are good for short term and I/O use. Assuming you used very high quality name brand products and burned them slow, you can expect a life of 5 years storage on those disks, after that it will degrade to unreadable. Cheap CD'd and DVD's on a fast burn, you might get 2 years if you are lucky.

The best soft backup is tape as it has a life expextancy of 25 years (or greater) if the right storage conditions are present and the tape is not used over and over.

Even USB stick and thumb drives have a life limit and the data will degrade.